editor@tjprc.org www.tjprc.org ESTIMATION OF HISTAMINE AND LEUKOTRIENE D4 AS INFLAMMATORY MARKERS IN PATIENTS WITH ASTHMA ALAA JAWAD HASSAN, THANA ABD AL-MAHDI & YAZI ABDULLA JASSIM Department of Biology, College of Science, University of Babylon, Iraq ABSTRACT This study aimed to estimate the concentrations of histamine and leukotriene D4by ELISA in patients with asthma, and to indicate the relationship between the disease and the gender in Babylon province, Iraq. Results revealed that there was a significant difference (p<0.05) in concentration of histamine(ng/ml) between males and females of patients in 21-40 years group. No significant differences were found between both sexes in 1-20 and 41-60 years groups. Meantime, the results illustrated that both males and females showed no significant differences(p<0.05) in concentration of leukotriene D4(ng/ml) in all age categories. Furthermore, the study revealed that the concentration of leukotriene D4 showed significantly increase (p<0.05) in the first and second age groups compared with the third age group of patients and healthy individuals. The results displayed that there was decrease (p<0.05) in the level of histamine in first and third age categories of patients in comparison with control group, also there was no significant differences in levels of this inflammatory mediator between groups of patients. KEYWORDS: Patients, Asthma, Leukotriene D4, Histamine, ELISA INTRODUCTION Asthma is a life threatening chronic disease of the respiratory system. It has been very common among children and adults (Masoli et al., 2009). It about to 200 - 300 million patients around the globe are suffering from that disease and the number is rising every year (Manohar and Selvakumaran, 2012). Amin et al (2005)reported that there is an increase in mast cells degranulation in atopic asthmatics resulting from an IgE – dependent activation of the cells. Furthermore, a variety of mast cell products can be released upon degranulation (Robinson, 2004), such as histamine and leukotrienes may play a role in airway smooth muscle cells proliferations and remodeling (Holgate et al., 2003). Leukotrienes (LTs) are lipid mediators involved in airway inflammation and certain clinical features of asthma (Hallstrand and Henderson, 2010). Leukotrienes compromise a family of products of the 5-lipoxygenase pathway of arachidonic acid metabolism (Marco and William, 2007). There are two families of leukotrienes, the first group LTsB4 (dihydroxy leukotriene) acts primarily in conditions in which inflammation is dependent on neutrophils, while the second group cysteinyle leukotrienes including CysLTC4, D4, E4 and F4 is concerned primarily with eosinophils and mast cells induced bronchoconstriction in asthma (Duroudier et al., 2009). LTD4, is found on leukocytes, smooth muscle cells and endothelial cells, and many have a role in fibrosis and vascular injury (Beller et al., 2004; Uzony et al., 2006). The aim of this study was to examine the influence of histamine and CysLTsD4 as inflammatory markers in patients with bronchial asthma in Babylon governorate, Iraq. International Journal of Medicine and Pharmaceutical Sciences (IJMPS) ISSN(P): 2250-0049; ISSN(E): 2321-0095 Vol. 5, Issue 1, Feb 2015, 35-40 © TJPRC Pvt. Ltd.